The nickname “Tony the Tiger” carries several meanings for Charlottesville Derby Dames member Anthony Lerner.
The name gives homage to his Hong Kong heritage. Lerner, whose mother is from Hong Kong, was born in 1998, which is The Year of the Tiger under the Chinese zodiac. And because he also admired “Tony the Tiger,” the mascot for Frosted Flakes cereal, the name became a running joke among him and his Dungeons and Dragons friends.
No, “Tony the Tiger” isn’t the name Lerner uses on a daily basis, he owns it when playing for his roller derby team, the Charlottesville Derby Dames. In roller derby sports, players either create or are given monikers. So much so, that members may play for years before knowing their teammates’ real names.
“[Roller derby has] become one of the biggest parts of my life since moving to Charlottesville,” said Lerner.
The Charlottesville Derby Dames wrapped up its first season in November after being on break since 2020. The pandemic set the team back in several ways: It did not compete internationally, almost half of its team retired and it lost the arena where it used to host games.
Nevertheless, the team is making a comeback one step at a time, said Kaylee Sciacca, a spokesperson for Derby Dames.
“We don’t want to get so obsessed that we lose the fun in the sport,” said Sciacca. “We want to focus on finding space and building themselves back up before jumping back in.”
The Derby Dames originated in Charlottesville in 2007. Over the next couple of years, the team grew, and became a part of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), or the official international women’s roller derby league, in 2013. At one point, Derby Dames had more than 80 members and ranked #33 worldwide out of approximately 440 teams, said Sciacca.
But then came COVID-19 in 2020.
Derby Dames has slowly climbed out of the hole prompted by the pandemic. The team struggled to find a space to hold its “bouts,” or official games, long before the pandemic. In its early years, the team hosted bouts at Main Street Arena, an indoor skating rink, before it closed down in 2017, said Sciacca. Now the space is occupied by the CODE Building.
After losing its space when the Main Street Arena closed, the team tried to host bouts in the National Guard Armory near Avon Street. But it still needed more room. The nearest space they found to host bouts was the Augusta Expo in Fishersville, which is a 35-minute drive from the city. The team occasionally hosts practices at the expo during the season, still, the group longs for a dedicated space in the city.
“It’s always a little bittersweet to know that there was a space that was really ours right off the Downtown Mall and it was really connected in that way,” said Sciacca.
Over the past couple of years, the team has been working to recruit more players. Many of the team’s senior members retired during the pandemic, said Sciacca and Lerner, leaving it with 45 members. Before 2020, the team had around 80 members.
Things started to pick up for the Derby Dames when the Virginia Roller Derby Network, a coalition of roller derby teams in the state, formed in 2024. The founding members of the network include the Derby Dames and four other teams: the Dominion Derby Girls of Virginia Beach, Ghost Fleet Derby of Smithfield and Newport News, NOVA Roller Derby of Northern Virginia, and Fredericksburg Roller Derby of Fredericksburg.
The roller derby coalition helped teams like Derby Dames to get back on its feet to participate in organized scrimmages, or practice games, with other Virginia roller derby teams. It also enabled the teams to share resources, such as officiates (or officials) and referees for its scrimmages.
Without the league, the team wouldn’t have been able to put on its last scrimmage of the season, said Sciacca.
It may be some time before the Derby Dames compete against other Women’s Flat Track Derby Association teams, said Sciacca. As the next season approaches, the Derby Dames plan to assess the past two years as it focuses on expanding and empowering its team members.
“We’re on the come up, it’s slower than we’d love it to be but we’re impressed with ourselves,” said Sciacca.
Roller derby is more than a sport for many of its members, Sciacca and Lerner agree. It’s a space for players, like Lerner, to grow their athleticism in ways they didn’t imagine before. The sport allowed Lerner, a transgender man, to become more in tune with his body as he went through his transition.
“You have to really be in tune with yourself and your body,” said Lerner. “And I really enjoyed the physical embodiment aspect of it.”
The Derby Dames, and WFTDA overall, are open to “women and gender expansive individuals.”
Because Lerner mainly officiated games in the past due to health reasons, he looks forward to finally applying his skating skills for his first competitive season with the Derby Dames.
The Charlottesville Derby Dames season runs from March through November. When in season, the team practices at Charlottesville High School and Albemarle High School, said Sciacca.
The organization is largely skater-run, meaning that team is funded through members dues and occasional company sponsors, added Sciacca. Members pay between $10 to $40 a month depending on their level of involvement.
Take Action
The Charlottesville Derby Dames, the city’s roller derby team, is expected to kick off its season in early spring. If you are interested in getting involved with the Derby Dames, you can check out the team’s website, or check out its Facebook or Instagram for updates.
But the money goes beyond their dues. Every quarter, the Derby Dames give a portion of their member’s dues to a nonprofit organization. Previous grantees have included Habitat for Humanity, International Rescue Committee and the Haven, a day shelter located on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall.
